Loose-leaf binder.



PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904..

C. R. NELSON.

LOSE LEAF BINDER.

APfLIoATloN FILED Nov. 22, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

if l....mnullilllll' Patented September 13, 1904 EETCE.

PATENT CHARLES R. NELSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WV. G. LLOYD COMPANY, A CORPORATIONOF ILLINOIS.

LoosE-LEAF BINDER. y

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 770,021, dated September 13, 1904. Application filed November 22, 1902. Serial No. 132,489. (No model.)

To all 1071/071@ it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. NELSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Loose-Leaf Binders, of which the following is a specification and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention has reference to improvements in loose-leaf binders designed to removably secure and retain letters, bills, records, and other memoranda of that type shown in an application for patent filed by me November 4, 1902, and numbered serially 130,101, and has for one of its objects to provide a binder of the character referred to in which the impalingprongs turn or oscillate about a common center in order to facilitate the securing of the leaves or sheets adapted to be retained thereby.

The invention further contemplates the provision of simple and readily-manipulated means for locking or securing the retainingprongs in their closed position and for releasing the same when it is desired to open the binder.

The invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter particularly described, specifically designated in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of the binder with the covers thereof in their open position. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, showing the position the leaves or sheets assume when the covers of the binder are thrown open for the inspection of the contents thereof. Fig. 3 is a section on the line :r rv of Fig. 1 through the back of the binder. Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig. 3, but with the impaling-pins in their open position. Fig. 5 relates to a detail of one of the latches for locking the retaining-prongs in their closed position. Fig. 6 illustrates a modification of the mounting of the oscillating frames, and Fig. 7 relates to a further modification.

The back of the binder consists of a rigid member comprising a back plate or piece 10, which may be of any preferred shape in crosssection, that shown being semicircular, provldmg a space or chamber for the movable parts of the leaf or sheet clamping or securv ing mechanism hereinafter described and provided With end pieces or plates 11. Hinged or iexibly attached to the upper edges of the back in the manner of the ordinary book are covers 12.

Mounted in the end pieces or plates 11, medially of the sides thereof and on a common center, is a pair of oscillating frames, each of which has fixed thereto one or more impalingprongs projecting therefrom for engaging and retaining the sheets or leaves. These oscillating frames consist of bars 13, provided at the ends with inwardly-extending arms 14, pivoted in the construction seen in Figs. 1 and 2 on pins 15, fixed in the end pieces 11, between the sides thereof, and in order that the sides of the arms 14 may be liush the ends of each adjacent pair are recessed and overlap, as shown in Figs. -1 and 3. The arms 14 are of such length that the bars 13 are located when `the prongs are in their closed position, Fig. 3, near the edges of the back, and the impaling-prongs, which are preferably arcshaped, are attached thereto and extend therefrom backwardly over the line of the pivotpins 15 to or near the opposite edge of the back. By the arrangement describedthat is to say, by mounting the oscillating frames on a common center, so that the prongs are concentric with the pivots about which they turn-the said prongs travel in parallel paths, so that their passage through the apertures in the sheets or leaves provided therefor is facilitated and binding of the same is avoided.

Instead of mounting the oscillating frames on common pivotpins, as heretofore described, the same result may be secured by arranging them as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the arm at each end of the one of the oscillating frames being provided with atrunnion 17, fitting and turning in a concentric tubular trunnion 1'8 of the other frame, journaled in the adjacent end piece of the back.

In order to guide the prongs 16, the backA may be provided at the inner upper edges thereof with inwardly projecting lugs or flanges 19, provided with apertures coinciding with the prongs, and these flanges when employed also serve as stops to limit the movement of the oscillating frames, being engaged by the bars 13, as seen in Fig. 3.

Means are preferably provided for locking the prongs 16 in their securingl or closed position, and such means may consist of a springlatch carried by each oscillating frame and adapted to engage a catch iixed to the back and provided with means for releasing the same when it is desired to open the binder to insert or remove a leaf or leaves. Such latches are carried one by each of an adjacent pair of the arms 14 of the oscillating frames, and each consists, as shown in detail in Fig. 5, of a spindle 20, oscillatably mounted in one of the l said arms and provided with a backwardly-extending finger 21, which is beveled inwardly, as at 22, on its outer face, so as to slip past a catch or lug 23,projecting inwardly from near the upper edge of the adjacent end piece of the back. Aspring, such as the coiied spring 24, encircling the spindle and reacting between the bar 13 of the oscillating frame and the spindle, serves to hold the latch in advanced position and against a stop 25, projecting from the arm 14, on which the latch is mounted. The outer end of each of the spindles 2() passes through the adjacent end of the back and. plays when the frames are oscillated in a curved slot 26, which is of course concentric with the pivots about which the prongs 16 turn, and are provided with buttons or fingerpieces 27 for turning the spindles 2O to disengage the latches from the lugs 23 and also for oscillating the frames carrying the prongs 16 when it is wished to open or close the binder. To manipulate the binder, assuming it to be in its closed position, as seen in Fig. 3, and that it is desired to recede the prongs to the position shown in Fig. 4 to permit of the removal or insertion of a letter or other leaf or sheet, the buttons 27 are turned outwardly, thereby rocking the spindles 2O and retracting the latch-fingers out of engagement with the lugs 23. The buttons 27 are now pressed toward each other, the spindles 2O following the slot 26, and thereby turning the oscillating frames on their pivots and receding the prongs. The leaf or leaves having' been removed or inserted, the buttons 27 are pushed outwardly or apart, and the prongs being arcshaped and moving conccntrically to their pivots and in parallel paths readily pass through the apertures in the sheets provided therefor. As soon as the beveled faces of the latch-fingers strike the lugs 23 the spindles 2O are turned until the latch-fingers slip past the lugs, when the springs thereof advance the same and cause them to engage the lugs.

Inasmuch as the prongs 16 have a range of movement from one side of the back to the other, it will be obvious that in the event that a paper near one side is to be removed or insei-ted the oscillatable frames may be turned so that thespace between the free ends of the` prongs will be at that side. The sheets having been previously parted at the proper place, the paper may be removed or inserted, the bulkier or thicker portion of the contents of the iile having nearly the entire length of the prongs at that side of the back for retaining the same. This is a decided advantage, particularly when the binder is filled-up.

The locking mechanism may be dispensed with, if desired, and when not employed the frames may be oscillated by finger-pieces or crank-arms 28, fixed to the trunnions 17 and 1S, as shown in Fig. 7.

1 claim as my invention- 1. In aloose-leaf binder, in combination, a back having rigid end pieces, a pair of parallel oscillatable frames one of which is provided with a tubular trunnion journaled in each end piece and the other of which is provided at each end with a trunnion journaled in the tubular trunnion, and arc-shaped impaling-prongs projecting laterally from each frame and curving inwardly over and past the center of oscillation thereof.

2. ln a loose-leaf binder, in combination, a back, a pair of independently-oscillatable frames pivoted on the back, and a plurality of curved impaling-prongs extending from each frame and arching the pivots thereof, the free ends of each set of prongs being movable through an arc from one edge of the back to the other.

3. In aloose-leaf binder, in combination, a back having rigid end pieces, an oscillatable frame journaled in the ends, curved impalingprongs carried by the frame and disposed transversely thereto, a spring-latch carried by the frame, a catch projecting from one of the end pieces and engaged by the latch, and a finger-piece for turning the latch to release the same.

4. In a loose-leaf binder, in combination, a back having end pieces, a pair of frames journaled in the end pieces and oscillating about a common center, impaling-prongs carried by each frame and curving inwardly over and past the center of oscillation thereof, 'latches for securing the frames against movement and iinger-pieces for releasing thelatches and also for yoscillating the frames.

In aloose-leaf binder, in combination, a back. having end pieces, a pair of oscillatable frames journaled in the end pieces and having concentric pivots, arc-shaped impaling-prongs projecting laterally from each frame and curving inwardly over and past the center of oscillation, a spring-latch mounted on each frame, a catch projecting from the end piece and engaged by the latch, and a linger-piece for turning the latch to release the same and also for oscillating' the frames.

6. Inaloose-leafI binder, in combination, a back having end pieces, a pair of frames piv- IOO ISO

oted in the end pieces one of which is prothe ends of the back and movable in the chzim-` IO vided with a slot concentric With the pivots ber thereoil from one side to the other, and A of the frames, impaling-pins carried by the inwardly-extending' impaling-prongs carried frzmes, add latches mounted on thisJ1 frames by the frames and arching the pivots thereof. an provi e with iinger-pieces whic eXtenc i through the slot. LHARLES R' NELSON' 7 In Moose-leaf binder, in combination, a Witnesses: chambered back, a pair of independently-os ARTHUR B. SEIBOLD, cillatable under-swinging frames pivoted on LOUIS K. GILLsoN. 

